Fabricated: The New World of 3D Printing

What would you create if you had a machine that could make (almost) anything? Fabricated offers you practical and imaginative insight into the question, "How will 3D printing change my life?" This book is an informative and fast–paced exploration of 3D printing technologies and the people who use them. You′ll take a journey to design studios, businesses, schools, and cutting–edge research labs. Based on hundreds of hours of interviews, Fabricated explores the promise and peril of a 3D printed present and future. Businesses will be liberated from the tyrannies of economies of scale Factories and global supply chains will shrink, finding themselves closer to their customers The law, already reeling from digital media, will once again need to be redefined Our environment might breathe easier in a 3D printed economy, or it could choke on a rising tide of plastic 3D printed digital and intelligent, adaptive materials will change our relationship with the physical world If you′re intrigued with new technology, business strategy, popular science, or the social impact of technology, Fabricated will fascinate you.

Preface xiii Chapter 1: Everything is becoming science fiction 1 Chapter 2: A machine that can make almost anything 7 Printing three–dimensional things 11 The ten principles of 3D printing 20 Chapter 3: Nimble manufacturing: Good, fast, and cheap 25 Somewhere between mass production and the local farmer’s market 27 The blank canvas of the 21st century 35 Chapter 4: Tomorrow’s economy of printable products 45 Like ants with factories 46 The experience economy 51 A future economy of printable products 56 Chapter 5: Printing in layers 65 A manufacturing process at heart 65 Two families of printers 68 Cleaning up design files 77 The raw materials 81 Chapter 6: Design software, the digital canvas 85 A word processor for drawing 85 Today’s design software 91 What you design is not (necessarily) what you print 100 The next generation of design software: digital capture 102 Chapter 7: Bioprinting in "living ink" 105 The printer of youth 105 Tissue engineering 111 CAD for the body 120 The future 124 Chapter 8: Digital cuisine 129 Digital gastronomy 130 Feeding the quantified self 142 Processed food 144 Chapter 9: A factory in the classroom 153 Make to learn: Children′s engineering 154 Not a national crisis. . . but learning should be enjoyable 161 Now let′s see you draw that abstract equation on a graph 166 Barriers to classroom adoption 171 The road ahead 173 Chapter 10: Unleashing a new aesthetic 175 Computers that act like nature 176 Printing wavy walls and custom gargoyles 191 Chapter 11: Green, clean manufacturing 197 A tale of two plastic toys 200 Greener manufacturing 202 3D printing a more beautiful landfi ll 206 Chapter 12: Ownership, safety, and new legal frontiers 217 Printing weapons, drugs, and shoddy products 218 Rip, mix, and burn physical things 224 Exclusivity vs. the freedom to innovate 230 Chapter 13: Designing the future 241 Tea. Earl Grey. Hot. 241 A bicycle for our imagination 243 The language of shapes 252 Changing the shape of design tools 260 Chapter 14: The next episode of 3D printing 263 The three episodes of 3D printing 265 Cofabrication of multiple materials 266 Moving from printing passive parts to active systems 271 The final episode—from analog to digital 275 Machines making machines 280 References 283 Index 291

Hod Lipson and Melba Kurman put innovative technologies into context. Lipson is a leading researcher and speaker on 3D printing, digital materials, and the transformative power of intelligent machines. His lab at Cornell University has pioneered interdisciplinary research in 3D printing, product design, artificial intelligence, and smart materials. Kurman is an author and technology analyst who covers game–changing technologies in language that intelligent (and busy) non–experts can understand.